Dietary fish oil and vitamin E enhance doxorubicin effects in P388 tumor-bearing mice

In this study, four kinds of rodent diets, CO, FO, CVe, and FVe, were used by addition of canola oil, oil mixture (fish oil + canola oil), canola oil plus vitamin E, and oil mixture plus vitamin E, respectively, to a basic diet, AIN-93G, to investigate the influence of dietary fish oil and vitamin E on doxorubicin (DOX) treatment in P388 ascitic mice. Animal life span (LS) and heart damage were recorded in mice fed the four different diets and treated with different doses of DOX. The optimal doses of DOX for antitumor effect as manifested by increased LS were 6.0 and 9.0 mg/kg. Both fish oil and vitamin F significantly enhanced this effect. On the other hand, DOX at 12.0 mg/kg induced severe heart damage, which was also significantly aggravated by both fish oil and vitamin E, as shown by both decreased LS and increased serum creatine phosphokinase activity. Fish oil and vitamin E appeared to enhance the antitumor effect of optimal doses of DOX but to aggravate cardiotoxicity owing to DOX overdose.